Thread by @SamFowles

The parts of the #CouttsFiles they don’t want you to see 🧵: They show Farage was let go for commercial reasons.

1. In November 2022 Coutts was concerned about the “reputational risk” of Farage (ie others wouldn’t want to bank with them) but recommended keeping him on anyway: https://t.co/aJwdsufUR6twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2. The Risk committee was also concerned about “reputational risk” (this is an important business criteria in a service industry. Rich people who don’t like your reputation will go to your competitors). But they agreed to keep him on *while he met the commercial criteria*:

3. Farage’s mortgage with Coutts was keeping him within the commercial criteria. So Coutts essentially made a decision not to give Farage special treatment (ie keeping him on despite not meeting the cc) because doing so might damage the business.

4. Coutts noted that 1. Farage’s business didn’t align with their values, and 2. His “economic contribution” (I.e. the commercial criterion - Coutts requires customers to have a provide a certain financial value) was low. *But decided to keep him on anyway*:

5. Coutts noted that the repayment of Farage’s debts to the bank (expected in 2023) would mean that his economic contribution fell further (ie another commercial criterion).

6. It was only once Farage’s mortgage was repaid, and his economic contribution consequently fell below the required level, that Coutts let him go. This was clearly believed to be a *commercial* decision.

7. It appears the only impact Farage’s political views had was that Coutts decided it would be too much of a reputational risk to give him special treatment (ie to keep him on without a sufficient economic contribution). This seems to confirm the original BBC debunking of the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

8. Please note - none of this is to make a political point. But it is important that our public discourse is based on reality. Regardless of our political views we should be able to debate based on truth.

My analysis is, of course, merely a personal opinion based on the sources… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…